The Orpheum Theatre with advertising for the movie Lady Luck, circa 1946.
Designed by Scottish architect Marcus Priteca,[1] the theatre officially opened on November 8, 1927, as a vaudeville house, but it hosted its first shows the previous day.[2][3][4] The old Orpheum, at 761 Granville Street, was renamed the Vancouver Theatre (later the Lyric, then the International Cinema, then the Lyric once more before it closed for demolition in 1969 to make way for the first phase of the Pacific Centre project).[5] The New Orpheum, which was the biggest theatre in Canada when it opened in 1927, with three thousand seats,[4] cost $1.25 million to construct.[6][7] The first manager of the theatre was William A. Barnes.[4]
Following the end of vaudeville's heyday in the early 1930s, the Orpheum became primarily a movie house under Famous Players ownership, although it would continue to host live events on occasion. Ivan Ackery managed the Orpheum during most of this period, from 1935[8] up until his 1969 retirement.[9]
In 1973, for economic reasons, Famous Players decided to gut the inside of the Orpheum and change it into a multiplex.[10] A "Save the Orpheum" public protest and fundraising campaign was launched, which even Jack Benny flew in to help with,[6][10] and the Orpheum was saved.[11] On March 19, 1974,[3] the City of Vancouver bought the theatre for $7.1 million, with $3.1 million coming from the city itself, and $1.5 million from each of the provincial and federal governments.[6][7] The Orpheum closed on November 23, 1975, and a renovation and restoration was done by the architectural company Thomson, Berwick, Pratt and Partners.[7][12] It re-opened on April 2, 1977, and has since been the permanent home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.[3][13] Tony Heinsbergen, a U.S. designer who originally chose the color scheme for the interior (ivory, moss green, gold and burgundy) was brought back, fifty years later, for the renovation.[14] In 1983, an additional entrance was opened on Smithe Street.[7]
The Orpheum's present neon sign was installed in the 1970s.
In 2006, the Capitol Residences development was proposed for the old Capitol 6 cinema site adjacent to the Orpheum. The City of Vancouver gave the developer permission for extra height and density on their site in return for a major expansion to the Orpheum, including a long desired back stage area. This was the largest amenities trade in the history of the city, and will increase the usability of the facility.[17]
The Warner Grand Theatre is a historic movie palace that opened on January 20, 1931. It is located in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, at 478 West 6th Street.
Alessandro Juliani is a Canadian actor and singer. He is notable for playing the roles of Tactical Officer Lieutenant Felix Gaeta on the Sci-Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica, Emil Hamilton in Smallville, Jacapo Sinclair on The CW series The 100, and Dr. Cerberus on the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He is also known for voicing the character L in the English version of the anime series Death Note and its live action films, as well as several other animation projects. Juliani provided the voice of Aaron Fox on Nexo Knights.
Matthew Ray Bennett is a Canadian actor, writer and director. He is best known for portraying Detective Len Harper on Cold Squad and his recurring roles as Aaron Doral cylon model number five in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica and Daniel Rosen in Orphan Black.
Granville Street is a major street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and part of Highway 99. Granville Street is most often associated with the Granville Entertainment District and the Granville Mall. This street also cuts through residential neighbourhoods like Shaughnessy and Marpole via the Granville Street Bridge.
Alexander Pantages was a Greek American vaudeville impresario and early motion picture producer. He created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the Western United States and Canada.
Benjamin Marcus Priteca was a Scottish architect. He is best known for designing theatres for Alexander Pantages.
The Granville Mall is a transit mall and pedestrian zone in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It comprises the section of Granville Street in Downtown Vancouver between Hastings and Smithe streets. Most routes that service the mall are primarily trolleybuses operated by TransLink; in addition to bus service, the Granville Mall can be accessed by SkyTrain from either Granville and Vancouver City Centre stations of the Expo and Canada lines, respectively.
Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of Canada's largest cities and foremost cultural centres.
Ivan Ackery was a movie theatre manager and entertainment promoter in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was the manager of Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre during its peak period from the 1930s to the 1960s.
The Capitol Theatre is a performing arts venue in Yakima, Washington. With its location in downtown Yakima and 1,500 seating capacity, it serves as the primary performing arts facility for the Yakima region.
An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors. This was intended to make the patron a more active participant in the setting.
The Granville Entertainment District is a neighbourhood in Downtown Vancouver known for its vast assortment of bars, danceclubs, restaurants, nightlife, and urban adult oriented shops and entertainment. The entertainment district centred on a seven-block stretch of the Granville Mall and surrounding streets.
The Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage is a landmark theatre at 12th Avenue and Granville Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, which serves as the main stage for the Arts Club Theatre Company. The Stanley first opened as a movie theatre in December 1930 and showed movies for over sixty years before falling revenues led to its closure in 1991. After years of threatened commercial redevelopment, the Stanley was renovated as a stage theatre between 1997 and 1998 and subsequently awarded status as a heritage building.
The Orpheum Theatre at 842 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles opened on February 15, 1926, as the fourth and final Los Angeles venue for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. After a $3 million renovation, started in 1989, it is the most restored of the historical movie palaces in the city. Three previous theatres also bore the name Orpheum before the one at 842 Broadway was the final one with that moniker.
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is situated within the natural landscape of the campus and is surrounded by evergreens and rhododendrons. This state of the art performing arts venue holds the 1,200-seat Chan Shun Concert Hall, the flexible-seating Telus Studio Theatre, the 160-seat Royal Bank Cinema, the Great Performers Lounge, and a glass lobby. Completed in 1997, the Chan Centre hosts classes, rehearsals and performances for a variety of the UBC departments of music, film and theatre as well as a diverse, yearly performing arts season that attracts audiences from all over the Lower Mainland.
The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States. The same six-block stretch of Broadway, and an adjacent section of Seventh Street, was also the city's retail hub for the first half of the twentieth century, lined with large and small department stores and specialty stores.
The Utah Theatre was a historic theater in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States. It opened in 1918 as the Pantages Theater, after the name of its owner, Alexander Pantages. The theatre was located at 148 South Main Street, Salt Lake City.
Vincent Gale is a Scottish-born Canadian film and television actor, who won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 2002 Genie Awards for his performance in the film Last Wedding.
The Pantages Playhouse Theatre is a former vaudeville theatre in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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